Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

++ Deutsche Welle published three interviews in Albanian concerning the Mojahedin Khalq presence in that country. Titled ‘It would be wrong to ignore the Mojahedin in Albania’ Anne Khodabandeh’s interview stresses her concern that unless the MEK is disbanded and the members treated as individual refugees, these radicalised terrorists could re-create the cultic training camps which exist in other countries which host the MEK. The danger would be if the MEK, as mercenaries, offered their training and logistical support to other terrorist groups. German-Iranian expert Ali Sadrzadeh suggested that the Americans chose to resettle the MEK organisation in Albania because that country’s relations with Iran are not strong. Moving the whole group to a Western European country would have created problems at a time they are trying to adjust their relations with Iran following the joint nuclear agreement. He dismisses any terrorist threat from the MEK because the group said it had renounced violence and the members are old. Sadrzadeh says the MEK will continue with its internet propaganda from Albania. The third interview, with MEK member Farzin Bahadur Goudarzi introduced as the PR representative, reveals clearly that the MEK have set up an extra-judicial enclave in the country. At their base “A camera records everyone who enters and exits from the iron gate opened and closed from inside.” Gourdarzi claims to fear for his life because the Iranian authorities would come after him if only they knew he was there!

++ Awaa Association published a two-part video of a meeting of former MEK members in Cologne to mark International Women’s Day. Representative from several Societies and Associations met together.

++ On the occasion of Chahar Shanbe Suri Maryam Rajavi broadcast her usual incitements to violence for the people of Iran. Days ahead, critics were already asking her not to be embarrassing because no-one listens to her. Some even pointed out that if Maryam Rajavi thinks anyone does listen, why not ask them to rise up on any other day of the year? There is no skill in asking people to come out on to the streets during a public celebration! ‘It’s like telling people to take their socks off before they go to bed’ quipped one commentator.

++ Davoud Baqervand Arshad participated in a meeting in Geneva organised by UN Watch. He posted a brief in Farsi in the No to Terrorism website.

++ There has been further negative reaction to the writings and ramblings of Parviz Khazai (NCRI representative for Scandinavia). As the days pass his writing becomes more disgusting. People ask, ‘where is it going with this kind of base language?’ On the other hand, commentators note that Khazai heaps praise on Massoud Rajavi and calls him the ‘Commander-in-Chief of the National Liberation Army of Iran’ –  a title Rajavi doesn’t even accord himself these days.

++ Milad Ariyaee of Ghalam (Pen) Association wrote a short note called ‘The Last Strategy’. It consists of headline reminders of Rajavi’s failures and losses – from Iran to France to Iraq and now to Albania. Every time, says Ariyaee, the MEK brings some justification to delude themselves. He wonders how they will explain themselves now they are in Albania. He ends saying “no wonder Rajavi doesn’t come out of his hiding hole!”

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi writes in Nejat Bloggers about the MEK’s approach to women’s rights. “The MKO considers ‘the political and cultural landscape for Iranian women as incredibly poor’ while female defectors of the group everyday reveal new dimensions of women’s rights abuses committed in the cult-like system of the group.”

++ Anne Khodabandeh’s interview with Deutsche Welle is published in English.

++ Nejat Society has written a letter to the UN office in Tehran explaining about the cultic abuse inside the MEK and asking for more to be done to ensure families can contact their loved ones in the MEK.

March 18, 2016

++ On the occasion of International Women’s Day much was written about the suffering of women inside the MEK. Many were personal accounts. This week it surfaced that Maryam Rajavi had organised a meeting in a church in Tirana, Albania and in a governmental building in Paris to mark Women’s Day. She failed because both France and Albania put a stop to her plans. Rajavi was unable to travel to Albania so instead the MEK hired a hotel salon in Paris for her.

++ Massoud and Anne Khodabandeh’s Huffington Post article on the MEK in Albania was translated into Arabic and Farsi. The issue is gaining momentum as more and more people are asking what is really happening there.

++ Narges Beheshti, from the MEK families, wrote an open letter to Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi which was published in Arabic and Farsi in a wide range of publications. Narges explains that her brother Morteza was injured in clashes in Camp Ashraf and then deliberately left to die because he was a dissenting member. Morteza’s son has never seen his father and was brought up by family in Iran. The MEK prevented both sister and son from attending his funeral. Another brother, Mustapha, is still in Camp Liberty and Narges hasn’t seen him for fourteen years. She says that people who come out of the camp tell her he is being kept by force and wants to leave. In her letter Narges holds Al Albadi responsible for what happens in his country – she says, “it is not the UNHCR’s country”. She also alleges that there is evidence some officials in the UNHCR are being bribed by the MEK.

++ After visiting hospital, Karim Gholami from Fanous Association in Germany wrote a note about his situation. He titles it ‘Today’s suffering, the result of yesterday’s abuse’. Gholami was injured in the Chehel Cheraq operation but didn’t receive proper medical attention and was left disabled and is a wheelchair user. Now, when he visits doctors in Germany they tell him this could have been avoided. In his piece, Gholami names several people in the MEK who pretended to be doctors but weren’t qualified.

++ Former MEK member Ghaffour Fatahian from Payvand Assoc works as a painter and decorator in Paris. He relates a recent incident when he began working in the house of an Iranian homeowner. The owner was curious about how Fatahian had come to be in Paris. He says, “when I related my experiences with the MEK, he became impassioned and started swearing at Rajavi and all the rest of them”. It turned out that this owner was being pursued by people like Mehdi Abrishamchi to join the National Council of Resistance as a personality. The owner said, “no matter how much I reject them and swear at them to their faces, they refuse to go away. They have no shame and no dignity”. He said, “the only good thing that happened to me was that I was a political prisoner in Iran at the same time as Massoud Rajavi. I got to see who he really was and because of that they could never fool me. Sadly, for people like you [Fatahian], you had to go through all these bad experiences for many years and had to wait until now to see him for what he is”.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers has translated Maryam Sanjabi’s story into English. Sanjabi joined the MEK in 1986 and rose to become a high level member. But this all changed when she was accused of being an ‘agent of the Iranian regime’. After this, Sanjabi was subjected to interrogation and severe physical beatings before, in what she describes as “dark comedy”, the MEK declared her innocent. Sanjabi managed to escape the MEK and now tells her story to warn the international community to beware Maryam Rajavi’s claims to support women’s rights.

++ Al Mastar News, Baghdad reports ‘Saudi backed Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) cooperate with ISIS’. “According to well-informed security sources, today morning Iraqi Federal Police foiled a suicide attack by a group of MKO terrorists who attempt to target a gathering of prominent Sunni clerics. Although Iraqi Police spokesman was reluctant to go into further details, but the previous confessions made by arrested ISIS members show the great degree to which MKO is cooperating with the so-called Islamic State. Maryam Rajavi, the self-styled president of People’s Mujahedin of Iran, has ordered her clique to develop close relation with ISIS field commanders. Observers believe due to MKO’s military acumen in guerrilla wars and committing myriad of terror operations against civilians, the remnants of this terrorist group serve as valuable tools for ISIS in murdering key Iraqi figures.”

++ On Saturday March 5th, former members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO), active in different human rights associations including Aawa, Pen Club, Iran-Fanous and Women Association, held a conference in Koln, Germany. The meeting was held on the occasion of the International women’s Day to cherish hundreds of women who are still taken as hostages behind the MKO’s cult-like bars.

++ Mir Bagher Sedaghi, Switzerland, wrote an open letter to Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana thanking him ensuring that Maryam Rajavi’s deceptive hiring of a church in Albania’s capital was cancelled. Exposure of the MEK’s nefarious activities in Albania’s media ensured that the esteemed religious leader was made aware of the MEK’s plans in advance.

 March 11, 2016

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest++ Maryam Rajavi’s idea to hold the March 8th Women’s Day celebration on the 28th February raised a few eyebrows. Several people described it as a desperate attempt to draw attention away from how disastrous Iran’s elections had been for her. First she had told the people of Iran to boycott the election, then she said it was America’s fault that they didn’t stop it. Then immediately after the election she fell silent as though it had never happened. Some commentators pointed out that any use of Maryam Rajavi to discredit Iranian elections is doomed to fail. Here is a woman who was appointed as ‘Interim President’ seventeen years ago by her husband – who has never since thought to suggest any other candidate let alone hold an election. Maryam Rajavi wouldn’t accept a proper election on anything.

++ The fourth series of families visiting Camp Liberty this year have returned to Iran and are furiously writing to the UNHCR and anywhere else they can think of to find out how it is possible that a decade since Saddam’s regime has gone they still can’t meet with their relatives. They blame the UN office in Baghdad which is in charge of Camp Liberty for giving in to the American embassy which doesn’t want to allow contact. They blame the government of Iraq, saying they are surely responsible for their own country, yet the families can’t get access to their loved ones. This visit attracted widespread coverage in Iraqi newspapers and this has prompted Rajavi to respond by spending a lot of money paying writers to write against the families. But the writing is the same as ever – accusing an eighty-year old woman of being an agent of the Iranian regime and coming to Iraq to kill her own son. Some Iraqi readers have replied to such articles by commenting that the MEK talk rubbish.

++ An interview with former MEK member Ehsan Bidi in Tirana and an article by Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh in the Huffington Post have been translated into Arabic, Farsi and Albanian/English. What the MEK wanted to do clandestinely is now being exposed and this has made them panic and start reacting. They have clearly ordered all their lobbyists to drop everything else and try to stop this news from being repeated anywhere but in the Albanian media in particular. The MEK leaders have given the go-ahead to their agents in Albania to spend unlimited funds in order to stop the story that the MEK is getting together with illegal gangs in Albania. Ehsan Bidi has announced that he fears for his life as the MEK are making direct threats against him.

March 04, 2016

++ An Algerian writer, Avatef Farah, who joined in with the MEK anti-Rouhani demo in Paris has now posted her photographs on Facebook exposing the way the MEK have used false pictures and banners. The demonstration had more Arab participants than the MEK, and they had their own anti-Iran slogans not MEK provided ones. Farah comments ‘it is obvious it wasn’t an MEK demo but was an anti-Iran demo paid presumably by the Saudis and Israel’. In her comments she says ‘everyone I asked said Maryam Rajavi had organised it. So why didn’t she attend it herself?’

++ Massoud Khodabandeh writes comparing the collapse of the MEK after the nuclear agreement marked a political ceasefire between Iran and West with the collapse of the MEK after the military ceasefire at the end of Iran-Iraq war. In both cases this exposed the real mercenary nature of the MEK. Before these ceasefires the MEK claimed they would defeat Iran but the moment Iraq said ‘no’ they had to stop, the moment the nuclear agreement was reached they had to stop too. The MEK is not in charge of its own destiny.

++ Over the past two weeks the MEK has relentlessly campaigned to prevent people voting it today’s elections in Iran, arguing that if they stay away from the ballot box, the regime will definitely collapse. No matter what the outcome of the elections, the MEK will claim some influence. Some Farsi commentators are reminded of the election of former President Mohammad Khatami. There was a high turnout, but the MEK claimed it was less than 10% because they had called for a boycott. This sparked the resignation of Hedayat and Maryam Matin Daftary from the MEK’s National Council of Resistance after they had announced internally that they couldn’t go along with this ridiculous assertion by the MEK. Several people also commented on the MEK’s interference in today’s elections by pointing out that neither Maryam Rajavi as the NCRI’s ‘permanently elected’ president nor the ‘Sheikh’ of Saudi Arabia are in any position to even talk about elections let alone call for a boycott.

++ Parviz Khazai, notorious even inside the NCRI for his immoral lifestyle in Scandinavia, gets paid sometimes to write silly articles. This time he has written ‘Who are those who are afraid of the MEK?’ Fanous Association in Germany wrote a short note in response. First they point out that Saddam must be turning in his grave to see money he channelled to the MEK being spent on prostitutes in Scandinavia and writing silly things. Then they answer the article by saying “contrary to what Khazai says, there are many serious people who are afraid of the MEK. Formers are afraid. The security forces in Germany are seriously afraid of the MEK. The families of Rajavi’s hostages in Iraq are afraid. Certainly, no worries have been raised in political circles because there are no worries about the MEK politically. But in terms of MEK violence and crime and killings, everyone is afraid.”

++ Majid Rouhian, an MEK former living in Denmark, has started new series of articles about his experience with the MEK. The title of each one is ‘Massoud Rajavi, was this in line with toppling the Iranian regime?’ He gives various examples such as the MEK torturing himself and colleagues, forcing POWs to join, stealing from shops in Europe (he lists the illegal activities he has undertaken for the MEK), and with each example poses the question, ‘was this in line with toppling the regime?’

In English:

++ Nejat Society has published the first in a series of articles revealing Massoud Rajavi’s elimination projects. “As a totalitarian cult of personality, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) could not survive for over three decades without eliminating the opponents and critics inside the group. According to various reports and testimonies, there have been numerous cases of assassination of dissident members of the Cult of Rajavi. Some of these assassinations were then reported by the group’s media as suicide or even martyrdom.” The first example is Ali Zarkesh who is described as “second to Rajavi and a rival”. Quoting from Mohammad Hossein Sobhani in his book Dark Days of Baghdad, the article reveals “Massoud Rajavi wrote in a letter to one of the group’s high-ranking member, Saeed Shahsavandi, Zarkesh was punished because he had ‘repositioned’! What kind of repositioning deserves death punishment?”

++ A report by Voice of America on Senator John Kerry’s visit to Albania describes the resettlement of the MEK in that country as “…a sensitive issue. The U.S. has assisted Albania in its efforts to resettle the MEK, a group that has supported the U.S. in military operations in the Middle East and in its fight against terrorism.”

++ Sahar Family Foundation reported the story of Mr Ashur Varshi, 46, who escaped Camp Liberty only weeks ago and who is now living in hotel accommodation in Baghdad provided by the Iraqi authorities. “Varshi joined the MKO 27 years ago. As a 19–year–old teenager his ideal was the overthrow of the Islamic Republic through armed struggle. But ultimately, the totalitarian and manipulative system of the group made him leave it. ‘After 27 years of companionship with the group, I was threatened to death (by Alireza Budaqchi under the pseudonym of Ahad) just because I had said that the leader’s arguments were not realistic’, Varshi writes. ‘He [Ahad] used to pressure me to praise the leader’s words’. Ashur who was labeled an anti-leader agent, was eventually supervised all the time. ‘There was an absolutely suppressive atmosphere’, he recounts. ‘I was repeatedly summoned by them; and I was faced with mental torture in order to stop criticizing the group’.”

++ Nejat Association and Sahar Family Foundation report on visits by groups of families from Iran to Camp Liberty. They come seeking contact with their estranged loved ones. “The families gathered in front of Camp Liberty and called their children. Though they are not allowed to use loudspeakers, the families screamed their basic right of visiting their loved ones. The Rajavi’s brainwashed elements’ reaction was to nervously swear at families. Ashur Varshi’s brother was also among the families who have traveled to Iraq. The two brothers saw each other after nearly three decades and the scene was so impressive. The Varshi brothers met at Mohajer Hotel in Baghdad where Ashur resides in accompany with other survivors of the MKO Cult. He is the most recent defector of the Cult.”

++ Propaganda photographs depicting MEK demonstrations against Rouhani in Paris were carefully choreographed. The non-Iranian rent-a-crowd were surrounded by MEK activists and Iranian-type people to disguise the true make-up of the attendees. Local police told Iran Interlink their estimation of numbers was between 1-2,000. The MEK claimed tens of thousands. MEK pictures with the Syrian Free Army and Saudi backed Arab groups showed deliberately provocative placards swearing at Shiites as ‘Safavis’ in Arabic. Other placards claimed the Persian Gulf as the Arab Gulf, and that Ahvaz is a separate country. This last promoted a flurry of reaction from Farsi commentators who are very sensitive to this issue. They asked ‘how low can the MEK get that they line up alongside the most wicked incitement against Iranians’.

++ Former MEK member Mirbagher Sedaghi who lives in Switzerland has a note warning ex members and families. He says “everyone knows I’m trying to rescue my brother and that he has now been moved to Albania. But the MEK called my mother in Iran saying ‘we are your brother’s friends and he is in Camp Liberty and is ill so please send money’.” Sedaghi says “the MEK obviously haven’t been able to force my brother to call himself so they had to do this themselves. But clearly he’s also not free to talk to me himself.”

++ After the transfer process stalled in January there have are now been two groups of 22 and 20 Camp Liberty residents taken to Albania in the past two weeks. The real identities of these 42 confirms that Rajavi desperate wants to send wanted people with false names to Albania. Specifially Fahimeh Arvani, Roghiyeh Abbasi, Simah Vatankhah, Jaleh Mahramnia have all been sent to Albania with false identities. They are all wanted for various crimes. Critics and former MEK members have written to the Albanian authorities to ask for investigation into this matter.

In English:

++ Tehran Times Art Desk reported ‘Mina’s Choice’ director Kamal Tabrizi says his main motive in making the film is to give warnings to families about the danger of Daesh (also known as ISIS, ISIL and IS). Tabrizi explained. “We experienced a type of Daesh in 1980s (referring to the terrorist group of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization) and I wanted to remind the new generation that our security lies behind having gone through those days, while today it is the country of France that is experiencing this process”.

++ Nejat Society published the names of the latest group of arrivals in Albania. However, several have been visually identified as “among the ‘most wanted’ by Interpol, [who] were to be moved under fake identities”.

++ Anne Khodabandeh wrote a personal response to the story of a father in America who managed to prevent his daughter and two other young women from travelling to Syria. The event reminded her of how the MEK tricked the parents of Neda Hassani into sending her to Camp Ashraf so she wouldn’t be affected by “bourgeoise Western corruption”. Sadly, Neda died as a result of self-immolation in Paris in 2003 following the arrest of Maryam Rajavi on terrorism charges. “But Neda’s death wasn’t even for the cause her parents believed in. They sent her to Iraq to struggle for the freedom of the Iranian people, not the freedom of a vain and cruel woman.”

++One of the founding members of the MEK,Torab Haqshenas, died this week. When the MEK the split in mid 1970s Haqshenas led the Communist leaning side. Farsi comments following his death acknowledge his assertion that the MEK was founded as an Islamic-Marxist group. After later realising that this mix didn’t work he chose to struggle just as a Marxist.

++ The MEK inside Camp Liberty took to shouting against the families gathered at the gate and filming them. What caused most interest among Farsi commentators was the fact they covered their faces. If they are swearing at their mothers and fathers, then why, they ask, cover their faces? Are they ashamed. Is it because they have been forced to do this and they are ashamed. In fact, why are they filming the families at all? Perhaps they weren’t even linked to the families in any way. Commentators familiar with the MEK point out that as a cult, the actions of the MEK are not understandable from the outside. Cult behaviour doesn’t make sense to the outside world. This would have been used as a control mechanism targeted at specific personnel inside the cult to enforce cultic indoctrination.

++ Ebrahim Khodabandeh writes a comment about Massoud Rajavi claiming “I haven’t done anything wrong” and using others to claim this too. Khodabandeh merely gives the Headlines for some of Rajavi’s mistakes. First, starting armed struggle in 1981 just after the revolution and then running away while leaving so many others to die. Second, the Internal Revolution when Rajavi declared himself life-long sole leader and then had to suppress dissent; thinking he could control everyone but he couldn’t. Third, going to Iraq in 1986; at which point Rajavi and the MEK lost all legitimacy among the Iranian people. After this Rajavi’s history is like a roller-coaster of mistakes and failure – taking POWs and trying to make MEK fighters out of them, torturing and killing dissenters in Camp Ashraf and Abu Ghraib, abducting ‘recruits’ among economic migrants by deception and coercion, immediately after the loss of benefactor Saddam Hussein jumping into the hands of Saudi Arabia and Israel begging them to use the MEK as a tool to disrupt the nuclear deal, and now, the moment Daesh and Syrian rebels appear, Rajavi lines up with them. Then Rajavi says ‘I did nothing wrong’. He is so dirty no wonder nobody wants to be near him. Since 2003, 1300 MEK have run away and announced their separation. The rest of them are simply waiting for an opportunity to run away the moment they can.

In English:

++ Nejat Society is supporting the efforts of families in their efforts to make contact with their long estranged loved ones trapped in Camp Liberty by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.

++ The MEK’s efforts to insert themselves into the field of genuine human rights advocates during President Rouhani’s visit to Europe failed miserably. It is known to everybody, Iranian and non-Iranian alike, that the MEK is a terrorist cult and that it is backed by Saudi Arabia. Social media commentators of all stripes and nationalities gave vent to this sentiment whenever pictures of fake MEK protests were posted. Even the KSA itself has realised that it cannot use the MEK in the field of human rights as this reflects negatively on them.

February 5, 2016

++ Families at Camp Liberty are still trying to get help. They have lodged official complaints with UN and Iraqi government officials which include documents showing that Rajavi is paying bribes to some individuals in the UN office so that they will stop anyone running away from the camp. Various petitions by hundreds of families and ex members, both inside Iran and elsewhere, have been compiled. Each one is asking, after twelve years, for families to be allowed to visit their loved ones. There have been tens of reports in Iraqi media on this issue. A few Farsi comments have asked “why is Rajavi more afraid of families than anything else on earth?” Most connect this to the being a cult and exerting total control over the members lives.

++ During President Rouhani’s visit to France, various opposition groups gathered together on the 27th in protest. According to an eyewitness account by former MEK member Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad, MEK operatives attacked these demonstrators, in particular members of the Iranian Workers’ Communist Party, and injured one of them. On the 28th, the MEK held a separate demonstration. Instead of joining with Iranians, the MEK, with its usual ‘rent-a-crowd’ of paid refugees, joined with Syrian rebels in a Saudi and Israeli backed event. Interestingly, although Syrian flags were plentiful, the MEK did not display their logo. Only a few pictures of Massoud and Maryam were visible for a photo opportunity. Some analysts believe the MEK’s backers were warned not to allow known terrorists to parade on French streets as this would be embarrassing for the French government. Others said that the MEK, knowing its reputation as an unpopular terrorist cult, were afraid there would be no coverage and therefore toned down their presence. The demonstration was carefully choreographed and staged in such a way that it couldn’t be photographed or filmed at ground level except from the fronts so that nobody could see the non-Iranians there. According to people inside the MEK, coaches coming from London were stopped and two people were detained as illegals. On the return journey, one more person was detained after border checks. Although there were perhaps fewer numbers than the previous day’s turnout, the MEK demonstration was the more colourful and therefore did attract media coverage from outlets pursuing balanced reporting, like the BBC – none mentioned the MEK by name. The MEK websites claimed ‘hundreds’ of demonstrators while other paid coverage claimed there were ‘thousands’ – a strange discrepancy. This coverage however spelled disaster for genuine human rights advocacy since President Rouhani can now claim that the people demonstrating against him were terrorists.

++ Majid Rouhi, among others, has written about the disaster that has befallen the MEK now that serious rapprochement between Iran and the West has begun. Tensions have eased to the point that Iran has requested the extradition of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi from France. In his article titled ‘Mr Rajavi, how much shall we pay you not to analyse anything again?’ Majid Rouhi has examined all the political analyses Massoud Rajavi created from the time he left Iran until now, and has shown that not one analysis held true and in some cases the situation turned out opposite to Rajavi’s predictions. Rouhi talks about Rajavi’s favourite trick of presenting two or three scenarios to his followers and talking them into accepting his preferred version. Even in this case, says Rouhi, not only did Rajavi’s choice not materialise, but none of them came true.

++ In this week’s interview of Dr Alireza Nourizadeh by former high ranking MEK member Mr Davoud Arshad on Iran-e Farda TV, they talked about Hassan Jazayeri and how Massoud Rajavi sent him to his death. Nourizadeh explained that Hassan’s father, the highly respected doctor Shamsadin Jazayeri, while he was working in the hospital “took my hand and asked for my help to save his son. I tried to talk to Hassan before he was dispatched to Iraq, but by then he was already fully brainwashed.” Arshad, who had known Hassan in London, went on to describe how Hassan died in Iraq of an exacerbated heart problem on the training ground. For the past three decades the MEK has insisted that Hassan Jazayeri had been killed by the Iranian regime. In London the notorious Azam Mollahassan Kohneh Farahani – aka Leila Jazayeri – exploits his relationship as her former husband to feed misinformation to local news outlets in London by falsely claiming he was murdered by Iran.

In English:

++ Iran Interlink reports from Iraq: After 12 years, families of Rajavi cult hostages in Camp Liberty demand UNAMI action. “Today over 30 families from different provinces in Iran have arrived at the gates of Camp Liberty. They want simply to have the right to visit their loved ones. They are asking the UNHCR and UNAMI as well as Ms Jane Holl Lute, the UN Special Adviser for Relocation of Camp Liberty Residents to Outside Iraq, why is it that 12 years after the fall of Saddam Hussein (the benefactor of fugitive terrorist leader Massoud Rajavi), there is still no sign that the terrorists’ camp will close and the residents held hostage by the MEK leaders will be rescued and taken to safety. Why, after twelve years do the families of Camp Liberty residents still not have access to their loved ones? What is preventing anyone from helping these people and what power lies behind supporting the hostage taker to the point that all the affairs of the camp are still in the hands of the criminal Massoud Rajavi and his henchmen?”

++ Sahar Family Foundation in Baghdad sent a letter to Mr. Filippo Grandi, the new UN High Commissioner for Refugees, simultaneous to the presence of the families in front of the gates of Camp Liberty in Iraq.

++ As the US Presidential Candidate campaigning carries on apace, Lee Fang writing in The Intercept has a go at Howard Dean, former presidential candidate and current supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Although Dean asserts that he is not a Lobbyist, Fang says “He sure acts like one”. Fang cites Dean’s association with the MEK as evidence of his new lobbying career: “Though known for his anti-war rhetoric in 2004, Dean has accepted money from Mojahedin-e Khalq, an extremist group seeking regime change in Iran and has criticized President Obama’s negotiations with Iran.”

++ Massoud Khodabandeh published a blog piece in Huffington Post titled ‘Will President Rouhani meet genuine human rights advocates halfway?’ The blog notes two kinds of human rights activists. Genuine activists regard peace, dialogue and economic growth as the precursors for a strengthened civil society, something President Rouhani has said he wants to develop. On the other hand, some activists have simply switched from the nuclear issue to human rights as a way to threaten violent regime change. The MEK, which ostensibly leads this anti-Iran campaign, is backed by Saudi Arabia and the Syrian Free Army whose agenda toward Iran is certainly not to improve human rights there.

++ Mazda Parsi writes a thought provoking article in Nejat Bloggers ‘Many faces of Massoud Rajavi and his supporters’. Parsi references the article by Lee Fang (above). In his piece he talks about the self-serving changes of image and policy by the MEK, and says “it is not surprising that those well-paid politicians who embrace the MKO have at least one characteristic in common with the group: they both change many faces just to run their goals. For them, the ends justifies the means. Howard Dean sounds to be one example of these politic men whose ‘ends’ include the money he receives from different lobbies.”

 January 29, 2016

++ Former MEK Leadership Council member Maryam Sanjabi has published an autobiographical book in Iran titled ‘The Mirage of Freedom’ about her life with the MEK. The book is in Farsi.

++ A few items have been written anticipating the end of Massoud Rajavi’s career now that the nuclear issue has ended. They say, even though he is trying to jump on the human rights, bandwagon, with his background he is at the back of the queue. He was militarily dead after Saddam died, now he’s politically dead.

++ Every week Maryam Rajavi fabricates the support of one group of people or another; distinct from paid supporters. This week she claims that MEK supporters in Tabriz have asked the Americans to invade the area to liberate them. In reaction, a few people writing from Tabriz and elsewhere have ridiculed this. “There is nobody here from the MEK” they say, “the MEK are hated. Even when we do hold demonstrations it has nothing to do with the MEK.”

++ The series of interviews Davoud Arshad had with Alireza Nourizadeh over the past few weeks are done. Now the MEK have launched a vitriolic attack Nourizadeh in every one of their sites; tens of pages swearing at him and fabricating lies against him. Commentators say it is ironic that Nourizadeh is close to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and that while on one hand the MEK are trying to smooch the Saudis, they can’t stop attacking people close to them either. “Let this be a warning to the Saudis. Use the MEK and this is what you get – the MEK will bite the hand that feeds it.”

++ The funeral of Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi will be held on Saturday 23 January after he succumbed to cancer. Former member of the NCRI, Mohammad Reza Rohani, responded with a short, curt note titled ‘Mr Rajavi why don’t you write with your own name?’ Rohani explains that all this swearing at Mohammad Rahimi is from Rajavi himself but that he has it published under everyone else’s name like Mehdi Abrishamchi. “You still claim to be Muslim? I remind you, the prophet said ‘once someone has died, leave them alone’. But you can’t do that, you have to keep at it. This begs the question, is this swearing about him or issued as a warning against others doing the same thing he did?”

There is a spectrum of MEK and formers who have reacted to Massoud Khodabandeh’s article ‘Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line’. The old red line between the internal critics and the ex-members is the same of course, nothing has changed there. But inside the MEK, with the appearance of this new red line, there is chaos. On the surface, internal critics all agree about Mohammad Rahimi’s heroic struggle against the Iranian regime. But beyond this there are clearly two camps. Some ask ‘why did Rajavi not allow him bring his wife to be with her son?’ These people recognise a red line. They realise now that even as a supporter you can’t ask for anything or you’ll be labelled an ‘agent of the Iranian regime’. Some others in this camp simply say, ‘he’s dead, let’s forget it and move on’. But the MEK has been badly burned by the exposure that this new red line has come inside the organisation itself. To sort this out the MEK – which long ago infiltrated the so-called circles of internal critics – has tried pretend that Mohammad Rahimi has nothing to do with the MEK and therefore there is no such thing as a red line. A memorial letter has been signed by tens of sympathetic people which does not mention the MEK at all, as though he wasn’t a member for decades. Signatories include the Matin Daftarys- former members of the NCRI – who have signed it out of good will, but whose names act to dilute Mohammad Rahimi’s association with the MEK. This kind of activity is particularly targeted at the English speaking audience.

The effect of this whole affair has been to create doubt, confusion and infighting to the extent that nobody in the MEK is capable of paying any attention to Massoud Rajavi. He has lost his hold over the members and supporters. We will expect to see an internal crackdown fairly soon.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi writing in Nejat Bloggers analyses ‘New Evidence on Mojahedin Khalq-Israel Alliance to Thwart Nuclear Deal’. Parsi writes that “Attempts by Israel and American GOP and also the mujahedin Khalq organization (the MKO) to push the West towards more hostility against Islamic Republic have so far failed… The outcome of the deal was very appalling for the three above- mentioned groups. It was a failure for the Israeli lobby AIPAC and the MKO’s lobby who had spent large amounts of money for their lobbying campaigns to obstruct the deal. Their target audience in the congress are paid large sums to run the anti-Iran agenda.” Parsi then exposes the corruption of Republican Senator Tom Cotton in this campaign, referencing Eli Clifton who wrote about this in Lobelog in March 2015 in an article titled ‘Tom Cotton Allies Himself with the MEK’.

++ Nejat Society reports “Two brothers, defected from Mojahedin Khalq. The Bahadori brothers have now returned to their home town Jolfa, Eastern Azarbayjan.

Shahram and Shahrouz Bahadori were warmly welcomed by their family after 14 years of imprisonment in the camps of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO). The Bahadori brothers were recruited by the MKO in 2002 in Baku Azarbayjan where the older one was working. The MKO recruiters promised to provide them with European refuge.

Although they were promised a better life in Europe, they found themselves in Turkey and then Iraqi Camp Ashraf where they were immediately separated from each other. They were not allowed to meet each other for years. They were not told about their family who had several times come to visit them in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. The brothers made efforts to meet each other for eight years. Whenever they asked for a visit they were punished by the group leaders.

After their relocation from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, they succeeded to meet each other randomly and eventually they managed to escape from the cult of Rajavi after the recent rocket attack on Camp Liberty in November. Then, they were aided by the UN and Iraqi human rights bodies and the Iranian embassy in Baghdad in order to return to their country.

One of the brothers told Nejat Society that a large number of members of the group are thinking of leaving the group but they are kept busy in computer classes – without the Internet – because leaders claim that they will be sent to Europe after finishing their alleged computer training course. Cult leaders keep members in a state of hesitation and passiveness by threatening them that leaving the MKO ends with death and destruction.”

++ Habilian Association: “A Beirut-based commentator and analyst covering Middle East geopolitics says Saudi Arabia and Israel were desperate to strike a blow at Iran’s further international ‘rehabilitation’. Holding a master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University, Sharmin Narwani says the deal was also struck as the US and its allies ‘desperately needed the support of rational, capable parties within the Middle East to help disentangle from their Syrian misadventures.’ In the following interview with Habilian Association, Narwani speaks about those who’ve failed to influence the deal. Having a great knowledge of Iranian society, she also touches upon the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) and describes them as ‘useful to the deal spoilers’ who lacks any kind of support in Iran.”

January 22, 2016

++ Several items have criticised Saudi Arabia for using the MEK on its Al Arabiyeh television. These say that the Saudis have no tools and have resorted to wearing Saddam’s old boots. We are reminded that the MEK are not as they were before and the negative impact of using them outweighs the positive for Saudi Arabia. Some articles look at the situation of the MEK themselves as a mercenary force which will work for anyone. Irandidban has published a short bullet point article following the history of treason and mercenary activity of the MEK from its start up to now. Fars News in Iran also has a short bullet point article about the Al Arabiyeh channel’s use of the MEK and the separatist groups titled, ‘Al Arabiyeh the mouthpiece of terrorists and separatists’.

++ Atefeh Eghbal and others have written short notes comparing the MEK with Daesh in terms of how they treat families. This was in response to the incident in which a Daesh fighter executed his own mother because she wanted to help him get back to normal life. Iranian writers identify the MEK as being the same, saying the only reason they don’t publicly execute the families is because they can’t. The fundamental approach is the same, swearing, name calling, throwing stones, etc.

++ US and Iranian Foreign Ministers along with EU representative Federica Mogherini are in Vienna in expectation that sanctions will be lifted this weekend. On January 28, President Rohani will visit President Holland in Paris. Iranian exiles in Paris are preparing to start a new phase of anti-Iran activities after the unclear issue has ended. At the top of that agenda is human rights. Tens of different groups and individuals have made a joint announcement about pickets and demonstrations held from 27-28 January. This varies from known groups like the Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan to unknown people from Chicago or a group calling itself ‘the book table of the Netherlands’. The main event will be a picket at Les Invalides. Ironically the MEK have announced that they will hold a separate picket on the same day, at the same time, only in Trocadero, which is a stone’s throw away. Contrary to the other events which are organised and attended by Iranian and French groups, the MEK event is all in Arabic and is Saudi backed. It is expected that the flags of Saudi and Israel will be flying together alongside the MEK logo at this picket. It is also expected that there will be more of the so-called Syrian Free Army there than the dwindling MEK people, and already the SFA’s local radio in France is being used solely to advertise this MEK event in Arabic and French. The MEK placards are all in Arabic – we haven’t seen any in Hebrew yet. As usual the MEK are touring Europe’s refugee camps and promising a trip meals and pocket money to any refugees willing to come along. Buses are prepared to set off from London on the 27th and from Brussels and the rest of Europe. These activities are being monitored closely by security services because of recent terrorist activities.

In English:

++ An interview with former MEK member Masoud Banisadr appeared in Fair Observer as ‘Living and Escaping a Terrorist Cult. In it, Banisadr describes the philosophy behind cultic abuse as used by the MEK. He describes his feelings after leaving: “It was great and horrible at the same time. If you find a very close friend has robbed you, it hurts; if you find him violating your trust and dignity and deceiving you for years, it hurts much more. Then imagine finding out a guy who you thought of as a saint and the holiest person on earth has been just a charlatan wanting to make you his slave through manipulating your mind—robbing not only your wealth, health and happiness, but your individuality, personality and humanity. Then you will understand what I felt.”

++ The names of twenty six more Camp Liberty residents who were transferred to Albania have been published by Nejat Society to help families identify where their loved ones are.

++ Mazda Parsi writes for Nejat Bloggers ‘The Cult of Rajavi (Mojahedin Khalq), a tool for Iran hawks’. “The media of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) has launched a huge Saudi-oriented propaganda against the Iranian Government following the recent conflicts between the two countries. Unsurprisingly, the MKO is on the side of any country that happens to be hostile to Tehran, as the time of the nuclear negotiations the MKO made efforts to obstruct talks by repeating the same old misinformation about the Iranian nuclear activities.”

++ Peyvand Rahaee published an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon from forty families of MEK members asking for help to free them from Camp Liberty in Iraq.

++ Neday-e Haqiqat reports that Narges Behesthi has been seeking contact with two brothers for over ten years since they were taken by the MEK to Iraq. “In 2001 my older brother; Morteza went to Turkey to find a better job. For two months he took a temporary job. After two months that we had no contact with him, Moteza sent us a letter saying that he worked in a shipping company and that they would help him to go to Europe. He wanted us to send our younger brother Mostafa to Turkey. This way Mostafa who was seeking a good job went to Turkey as well. We later understood that the MKO recruiters in Turkey had promised my brother to send him to Europe provided that he stay at Camp Ashraf, Iraq for six months.”

++ Massoud Khodabandeh published an article on Iranian.com titled ‘Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line’. In it he describes the plight of loyal MEK supporter Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi who is dying of brain cancer and his son Sepher. They want to contact the wife and mother who is in Camp Liberty, but Rajavi’s red line has now tightened to include his own supporters as well as external critics. Ebrahim is outside the MEK red line now because of this humanitarian request. He is accused of being ‘an agent of the Khomeini [sic] regime’. Khodabandeh predicts that this constant purging of members will continue until Rajavi is alone. He puts this down to Rajavi’s incompetence even as a cult leader.

++ The families have been busy writing to various organisations to get help, in particular the UNHCR. They complain that in both Iraq and Albania, the local UNHCR officials are under the control of Massoud Rajavi and playing into his hands, whether by denying visits in Iraq or by refusing to accept the people in Albania as individuals. The UNHCR office in Tirana sends them back to the MEK telling them “they are your lawyers”. This has made it extremely difficult for people to get out of Iraq or to leave the MEK once in Albania.

On this issue of the families, irandidban website has a short comment titled ‘Iran is obliged to help the families of the people stranded in Camp Liberty’. The article says that families who visit Iraq from Iran must naturally be given consular support by their country. In the same way, families who visit or campaign from other countries must be supported by those other countries – which includes the families in London like the Mohammad Rahimi father and son. The concept that the MEK is labelling every family that wants to visit their loved one as an agent of the Iranian regime is the most ridiculous thing and is irrelevant to the task of the families. Their task is concerned with basic human rights which are not related to or affected by anyone’s allegiances or job in any way. The UNHCR should follow the law and not be intimidated by the MEK’s phobias and threats which are all just words.

++ This week people have continued writing about the pitiful situation of Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi and his son who want to talk to the wife and mother, but are denied by Maryam Rajavi and the MEK.

++ The reaction to Rajavi’s silence over the execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia was to compare this with the MEK’s very overblown and public weeping and commiserations following the death of Zahran Alloush, the leader of Jaish al-Islam. Many writers talk about the mercenary relation between Massoud Rajavi and the Saudis going back to the time of Saddam Hussein, with some articles accompanied by documents and pictures of Rajavi travelling to Riyadh to collect his money. They remind us that the Saudi owned al Arabiyah TV replaced Baghdad TV to broadcast the MEK’s propaganda and interviews with Maryam Rajavi, etc. Some articles position the MEK as sitting somewhere between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Among them Dr Mohammad Sahimi, a prominent lecturer from the US, wrote an article expanding on the significance of Sheikh al-Nimr within the history between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In this analysis he includes a section discussing the Iranian opposition outside Iran. In this he says the most shameful are those who call themselves Iranian but who, at this time, take the side of the Saudis. Those who work for al Arabiyah or other media outlets may have an excuse because it is their job. But those who take backhanders and don’t openly claim any relation are truly despicable.

++ Farsi comments have gone to town over the Christmas activities of Maryam Rajavi. She has gone to a church in Paris and instead of joining the ceremony has positioned herself at the head of all the priests, attendants and congregation and pretended to pray. This has been ridiculed as the dirtiest kind of self-promotion. An article by Zahra Moini from the Iran Women’s Association reminds us of Edvard Termador, an Armenian Christian, who while inside the MEK was forced to denounce his faith and announce he has become a Muslim. At the same time, the MEK would parade him around the Christian churches in Baghdad to pretend they have Christians among them as well. Moini reminds us of Termador’s testimony as well as others that the only other Christian in the MEK, a man called Phillip, was killed when he protested and refused to give up his religion and tried to run away. Zahra has attached documents showing how Edvard Termador managed to contact the Pope who then arranged safe transit for him out of Ramardi camp – where he was hiding from the MEK – to Europe.

In English:

++ Emma Ashford in The American Conservative writes that ‘Exiles bend Washington’s ear—and drag us into conflict’ using Ahmed Chalabi as an example of exiles who want to influence American foreign policy for their own agenda. “Policymakers in Washington are not blameless in this. A recent invitation by Congress to the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group, to testify before the House Subcommittee on Terrorism on issues relating to Iran and ISIS highlights how little scrutiny such groups sometimes face. Though certainly a vocal opponent of the regime in Tehran, MEK was only removed by the State Department from the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2012, after heavily lobbying Congress. The group is communist and is often described as a cult. It is so extreme and so unrepresentative of the Iranian opposition in general that other regional experts testifying before Congress refused to appear on the same panel.”

++ Mazda Parsi writing in Nejat Bloggers explains that cult members like those in the MEK are deliberately made terrified of leaving their group. Parsi says the way to rescue such people is to first remove them from under the hegemony of the cult leaders. In Iraq, the UNHCR must cooperate with the families of Camp Liberty residents to open the gates and allow them to leave and get help.

++ Nejat Society reports on what is happening inside the MEK‘s closed camp in Albania. Since the relocation of hundreds of people from Iraq, defections have increased dramatically. One defector, using the pseudonym Mehdi Tofiqi, describes panic among the leaders and a subsequent tightening of control over everyone. He says that contrary to conditions in Camp Ashraf where all the members were in one place, Rajavi now tries to isolate people in small groups in dormitories where the windows are covered in newspaper to prevent people looking in, or out. Female commanders have been sent from Paris to reinvigorate the brainwashing sessions. In addition, spies are distributed throughout the population to report on any signs of dissent.

++ The letter of one mother to the High Commissioner of the UNHCR makes a very simple and logical point: “I am Mahnaz Akafian, the mother of Mohammad Ali Sasani, who was a prisoner of war in Iraq but he is now prisoner in MKO in Iraq. I have not had any news from my son for 28 years. Some time ago I went to Ashraf Camp and more recently I went to Liberty Camp in Iraq to find him. Unfortunately, I did not get any result. I do not know if humans have different rights. I ask you a question as a human rights representative. If a person is in prison and is condemned to death, do they have the rights to have contact with and see their family members? We ask from the MKO that we see our children. Even if we are guilty of all the sins they accuse us of, why shouldn’t we be allowed us to see our children? So many fathers and mothers were not allowed to see their children and they died. With this weak body of mine I ask, let us meet our son! Kind regards, Mahnaz Akafian, a mother, 7 January 2016.”